Dry Eyes - Editor's Choice

Potassium supplementation for Dry Eyes

If you have had to deal with any of the COVD colds these past few years check with the doctor to find out if your potassium level is up to par. Besides Vitamin C and Melatonin, Potassium was one of the earlier supplements that helped people recover from COVD. From what I understood that condition used up or drained the body's potassium.

I am adding this thought on potassium because lately I have been trying keep up with the daily recommendation for Potassium. Articles say 3,500–4,700 mg of potassium daily and that it is safer when taken in foods. This really is not hard if you love banana, spinach, prunes etc. . However, knowing that I do not have enough potassium rich foods on hand, I take potassium supplements. I noticed that when I wake up in the morning, my eyes feel much more normal. In fact, sometimes I forget it has been sticking.

I could not find much information to verify this, but what I did come up with is in this post. I found a post from PubMed that incudes what tears are made of in this statement"

"Methods: The model is based on mass balances of water and solutes such as glucose, sodium, potassium, and chloride."

Check it out the PubMed Article:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17453939/

Here is an article about potassium Deficiency and dry eyes:

https://healthfully.com/347415-potassium-deficiency-and-dry-eyes.html

I have always been concerned about seniors, and now that I am one, I see and feel what they are saying.

HisJewel

I don't see anyone talking about this yet.

After 20 years of post-lasik dry eyes and trying many remedies, none of which provided satisfactory results and most of which were a real nuisance, I tried Maqui berry extract and experienced same day and ongoing relief with just one dose in the morning.

The second day I happened to yawn and actually produced tears.

This is nothing less than miraculous for me. I highly recommend you check it out.

Okay, so it has been awhile with this Borage Oil experiment and at about three weeks I noticed that my dry eye condition started to diminish, similarly to the black currant seed oil and similarly, the benefit has been slow and gradual, so I would conclude from these two experiments that both borage oil and black currant seed oil are helpful for my dry eyes which are mainly a problem at night. I would not consider either one a cure as I feel certain that if I stop using the borage oil the effect will diminish just as with the black currant seed oil. Right now the main benefit I see is that when I wake in the morning, the pain associated with trying to open my eyes is almost gone and some days not a problem at all. Same thing if I happen to awaken at night, greatly reduced pain or discomfort upon opening my eyes. I have tried castor oil drops and they are helpful, but castor oil seemed to create its own kind of irritation during my waking hours so after trying a couple of brands, I have decided against the castor oil for me.

As far as any other benefit, the borage oil may be helping my skin to seem softer or smoother, but that is a very subjective thing for an individual to try and measure without proper equipment. Studies do tend to suggest that borage oil may be beneficial for skin in that it can help prevent transepidermal water loss. I have been taking this borage oil for roughly a month now and will update again if I find any other benefit with this experiment which I plan to continue for a bit.

EC, maybe you can add borage oil to your list of potential dry eye alternatives.

Art

I saw 7 doctors for dry, inflamed, red, itchy eyes. Total waste of $ and time as usual. My dry eyes were really bad at night I had to wake up several times a night and use drops. I read about oil pulling and that you should do it longer for severe cases. I considered my case severe.

I mixed 1 big teaspoon of organic virgin coconut oil and 3 drops of oregano oil together. I oil pulled for 45 minutes a night and sometime I would do it twice a day. I also started alkalizing twice a day (squeezed lemon juice, baking soda in glass of water).

Oil pulling naturally CURED my red, severe dry itchy eyes, and my brain fog is gone as well something seven doctor could not cure!

DRY EYE

Two recommendations:

I have suffered from dry eye for over twenty years and have tried dozens of various otc drops. The very best solution to the problem I have found is very inexpensive: aloe vera (I use a high quality one) annointed on the lids of the eyes. Not dropped into the eye but on the lids. Aloe is, of course, alkaline and I believe what is happening is that the aloe is netralizing an acidic condition. I was put onto the idea of putting the drops of aloe onto the eye lid by my opthomologist who had given me a prescription for eye lid drops to deal with dry eye. But I found the aloe vera worked better and at little expense. I usually apply three or four times daily or as needed.

My second recommendation is to be careful for coffee consumption, both in regular and de-caf form... The acid in the coffee is murder on sensitive eyes. I have found a direct correlation between "burning eyes" during the day and whether I've had coffee that morning. Teas don't seem to be so bad.